YouTube TV Is Getting Another Price Hike And It's A Big One
YouTube TV subscribers are getting a mix of good and bad news today. The good is that YouTube TV is getting more channels and some new features. The bad, unfortunately, is that those new channels and features are coming at the cost of yet another price hike, and this is a big one.
In a blog post today, YouTube announced that it's added eight new channels from ViacomCBS: BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land, and VH1. These aren't the the final ViacomCBS channels we'll see come to YouTube TV, as BET Her, MTV2, MTV Classic, Nick Jr., NickToons, and TeenNick are all destined for the service in the future.
In that post, YouTube TV vice president of product management Christian Oestlien also went through some of the new features the service has added recently, including the ability the jump between different clips contained within news broadcasts. That feature is going live today on TVs and will land on mobile devices in the coming weeks. Other features that were covered include the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward through all DVR content; dark mode; the ability to mark a show as "watched"; and finally, a new look for YouTube TV's guide.
Now for the difficult part: YouTube TV's price is increasing by $15, jumping from $49.99 to $64.99. YouTube TV's new price is now nearly double the $35 per month price it launched at back in 2017. "We don't take these decisions lightly, and realize how hard this is for our members," Oestlien said today. "That said, this new price reflects the rising cost of content and we also believe it reflects the complete value of YouTube TV, from our breadth of content to the features that are changing how we watch live TV."
YouTube TV's new price goes into effect today, June 30th. Those who are existing subscribers will see the new price reflected in their bills either on or after July 30th, so prepare for this price hike to hit. A $15 monthly price increase isn't anything to stick your nose up at, so YouTube TV is probably bracing for a fair few users to cancel their subscriptions.